#i also love keeping things coherent in timelines so

[puruh]

gonna veer towards what i did on kikyō more w my verses which is to list the writing partners i have for particular aus etc, and within that i'll designate exclusivity or mains bc i think that would make more sense maybe? like even if not exclusive with a portrayal in All Ways, i think i'll take exclusivity to be more like .. if we have an au or are writing in a particular setting, then that shouldn't be replicated with another portrayal of the same character, if that makes sense

[nickfowlerrr]

so inviting, i almost jump in.

pairing: neighbor!bucky barnes x curvy!reader

warnings: fluff. pining. idiots in love? fake dating...kinda lol. a lil bit of angst but not too much.

words: 4.5k

notes: happy new year! i tried so hard to finish this last night but just couldn’t do it lol. this is part of the ciwywt universe, but i think it can be read as a standalone, too.

also - coherent, consistent timelines? sorry, don’t know her. idk where this fits in their story but it does bc i say it does. 😌 i really love these two and i hope you enjoy this lil fic as much as i do. thank you in advance for reading. as always, comments and reblogs are more than welcome, and so appreciated! 💞

"Ow,” you wince, “damn it," you grumble to yourself as you set your eyeliner pencil down, blinking rapidly to quell the tears you could feel about to form in your eye. You huff and turn to look down at the cause of your distraction, your phone ringing loudly as it lays on the counter. You see the caller and preemptively roll your eyes. Not this again.

You swipe to answer the call and his voice immediately floats into your ear, giving you no time to even utter a 'hello'.

"Before you say anything-"

"No," you state firmly, annoyance clear in your tone as you stop him before he can begin.

"Doll,"

"Bucky, I said no," you cut him off again. "It's a no. No. No, no, no. Not gonna happen," you continue despite his pathetic huff sounding on the other end.

"I know you said no..." he says before trailing off for a second, "but, doll, I really need you."

Damn him. You sigh heavily into the phone, putting a hand to your forehead to stop the headache you know is coming. He's really trying to pull on your heart strings... unfortunately for him, it's not gonna work.

"You don't need me, Bucky. You're gonna be fine. They're your friends, if you just tell them what you told me, they'll understand. You have nothing to worry about."

"That's not," he huffs, stopping himself, and you can almost hear him shake his head, "Will you at least try to come by?"

You know you won't, but you don't want to upset him any more than he already is.

"Yeah, I'll try. And stop worrying so much. You'll have a good time, I know it," you smile, the thought of him and his friends enjoying their New Year's Eve tugging at your lips.

"Yeah," he responds, sounding a little unsure. "Okay, well, I'll see you later?"

"Mhm...maybe," you say.

"Doll," he groans, causing an unbidden laugh to slip from you at his dramatics.

"I said I'd try, no promises! But I do have to go now, so, talk later. Bye," you finish, hanging up on him before he can try and talk you into making a promise you have no intention of keeping.

You sigh heavily as you set your phone back down, returning to your almost finished makeup. Just because you aren't going out doesn't mean you can't look good.

You're still so surprised he asked you to be his fake date to his New Year's Eve party. Both because you were surprised he was hosting a party to begin with, and because he needed a fake date.

But that was just it, he didn't need a fake date. He wanted to get his friends off his back with the constant set ups and double dates they'd plan for him. What he really needed to do was tell them the truth, just like he told you. He didn't want to date, at least not right now. He said his mind was on other things. That was understandable, so you weren't sure why he couldn't just tell them that...

A part of you feels bad for not helping Bucky out, but the other part of you knows you'd feel like a total outsider at a small party being attended by the avengers.

Like, the real-life superhero team, The Avengers.

That was an immediate 'no thank you'.

You were content to spend the night alone; just you, your grapes, and some apple cider to cheers to the new year.

--

The television plays on, another episode of a show you've seen ten times before just starting up, as a knock sounds at your door.

You furrow a brow as your head shoots in its direction. It only takes a second for you to come to the conclusion that it must be Bucky. You set your drink down and stand from where you were sitting cozily on your couch.

You fix your dress, and for no reason at all, check yourself in the mirror before you near the door, making sure your makeup isn't smudged and your hair still looks nice as you do.

There's another knock as you get to it and you open your door with a bit of attitude at his impatience.

"Bucky, how many times-" you're stopped short as you quickly see that the man before you is, in fact, not Bucky. "Oh, uhm, sorry, can I help you?" you ask.

"Yeah," the man laughs, "I'm here for the party. This is the right apartment, isn't it? Bucky Barnes?" he asks, looking at you quizically.

"No," you answer, "no, wrong apartment. He's just," again you're cut off, but this time by the door right down the hall opening, none other than Bucky peeking out to look down at you and - oh my god wait...is this - this is - holy shit you're talking to Captain America. Your eyes round as you look from Bucky back over to the man before you. "Oh, gosh, you, you're,"

"Sam Wilson," he smiles brightly at you, extending a hand. You shake hands as he continues, "and you must be-"

He is cut off from saying your name as it comes out of Bucky's mouth, almost frantically. You look from Sam back over to Bucky, your eyes still wide.

"I know you're still getting ready, but would you come here for just a second," he nods at you. You look once more between Sam and Bucky, your eyes narrowing as they land back on your own personal pain in the ass. What the hell is he up to... You and Sam go to walk over to him but Bucky speaks again. "Not you, Sam. You stay there," he says in a fuss. Sam puts his hands up, a look of confusion clear on his face at Bucky's demand.

You continue toward him and as soon as you're close enough to touch, he pulls you to him, turning you both so Sam can't see what you're saying. It's a hushed conversation, a whispered argument, really.

"You have to come over."

"No, I really don't."

"You do."

"I don't."

"You're staying."

"No, I'm not."

"You're staying. I'm not letting you leave," he says, trying to corral you into his apartment as you swipe at him, a back and forth of swats ensuing between the two of you.

"Bucky!" you finally whisper yell, stopping the battle as you ball your fists, almost stomping like a toddler in your annoyance. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I lied."

"Huh? To me? About what?"

"To all of you. But mostly them. I told them you'd be here. Because I thought you would be. But then you said you weren't coming, but I couldn't tell them that or they'd think I was just making up another lie about you..."

"Another lie?"

"I...may have... told my friends that we're dating and have been for a few weeks," he murmurs under his breath, so quiet you can barely hear his confession.

"You what?" you balk, trying your hardest to squash the stupid butterflies that are fluttering around in your stomach now at the idea of not only dating Bucky, but of being someone he brings up in conversation to other people.

"Alright, love birds, cute as this is, are one of you gonna invite me in or am I just supposed to stand here awkwardly in your hallway all night?" Sam interjects, walking to you both as you turn your heads to look at him.

Bucky turns entirely, moving closer to you, slipping his arm behind your back and resting his hand on your hip, "Yeah, welcome in. Steve said he'd be here with beer in a few minutes," Bucky says, an annoyed edge to his voice as he lets Sam through the door. Sam raises a brow at you and you force a smile. As soon as he's inside, Bucky snaps the door shut behind him, leaving you both in the hallway still.

"What the hell," Sam says, loud enough for you to hear through the door.

"Look, it started as a lie to get out of a date, but then I just kept using you an excuse to not go to things I didn't wanna go to. And ya know, more than half the time I wasn't really lying because I was with you," he tries to excuse himself.

"Are you insane?" you ask him plainly.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I really need you to be here tonight, please," he begs, his puppy eyes starting to get to you.

"You had only asked me to be your fake date."

"Yeah, once you said yes, I was gonna work the girlfriend thing in," he smiles wryly, rubbing the back of his neck in his anxiousness.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?"

"Is that a yes?"

You roll your eyes before acquiescing, "Fine. But you've gotta come clean tomorrow. You can't start the new year with secrets, it doesn't bode well for anyone."

"Deal," he smiles his real smile this time. Then his eyes drift down to your outfit and you warm, like you always do, under his attention. "You look good," he says softly, sincerity in his voice.

"Thanks," you accept quickly. You will not let him fluster you so easily. Not tonight.

--

More of Bucky's friends arrive soon after you get back from your apartment, your bag of grapes and bottle of unopened cider in hand. Bucky introduces you to each of them and you're now unsurprised that they know your name and exactly who you are. And you, for your part, are in awe of each and every one of them. Though you like to think you don't make it obvious.

And it's surprising how normal it all feels.

You for sure thought you'd be a nervous wreck around these people, but, especially with Bucky by your side, you've never felt so calm and comfortable, and at a party of all places. Though you suppose it helps that you're already so comfortable around his apartment. Still, it's nice. They're nice. And fun!

Card games are played, karaoke sung, and stories told as you all snack and chat the evening away.

You're all laughing as Sam talks about how everyone was sure Bucky had been making you up like a summer camp girlfriend after the fifth time he claimed you were sick or out of town so you couldn't show up to the events they had invited you to. Of course, you had no idea about any of them, but you do know where you were each and every night they brought up.

You were here.

With Bucky.

So, he wasn't completely lying. You smile and look to Bucky who stands right next to you. Your eyes instantly meet his, a smile of his own already gracing his face. You look back down, bashful despite yourself.

The night has passed so quickly and it's already nearing midnight. You're about to go get your grapes ready, but Steve's voice stops you, catching your attention.

"Ya know, I can't even remember the last time I've seen you look so happy, Buck," Steve smiles as he looks at the two of you. "I'm really happy for you, both of you,” he adds. “It's obvious how much you two care about each other. It's good to see."

You don't know what to say, and you're too scared to look at Bucky. You just force another smile, feeling a bit sad more than anything. Because this isn't real. Whether you'd like it to be or not. It isn't. You have to remind yourself of that.

Bucky's hand squeezing your waist, and the feeling of his admiring gaze on you as he pulls you closer to his side, doesn't help. It just makes that pit in your stomach grow deeper.

This is easy for him because it means nothing.

This is killing you because it means everything. It’s everything you never give yourself permission to dream about. Everything you want. And it’s what you know isn’t for you. It couldn’t be.

Just a few more minutes, you breathe, and then you'll go back to normal. No dating, just friends...just friends? Whatever it is you are to him...

You're lost in thought as the conversation continues around you, Bucky's hand never leaving you and his gaze never wavering. Even as he engages in the conversation, his attention is solely on you.

"Oo, countdown is going!"

The yell pulls you out of your head as your eyes snap to the television. What the hell! How did you just lose eight minutes? Damn Bucky always taking up your thoughts and distracting you.

You don't have the time to get to the fridge for your grapes as the kitchen is crowded, flutes of cider and champagne being passed out among the group.

You tsk, oh well. At least you have on your red underwear.

As the count gets lower, Bucky gets closer, and you mindlessly lean back into him as you watch the live broadcast from Time Square. Ten seconds hits and you all count along, Bucky's other arm comes around as he holds you from behind. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Bucky turns you around in his arms, catching you off guard as you look up at him, your hands coming to rest on his chest.

Two.

He leans in, and you're frozen. His nose brushes yours, as his lips brush against your own. Oh.

One.

"Happy New Year," he whispers against you, cheers and exclamations of the same sentiment shared all around the living room, between everyone else.

"Happy New Year," you whisper back breathily before you unthinkingly press closer to him.

His lips meet yours as he leans in ever closer and kisses you, so softly. Your eyes flutter closed as you return his affection, kissing back harder than you intend before you break away. It feels like magic, it feels like home. And you want nothing more than to do it again. To lose yourself in him so delightfully…

You remember yourself then and almost shy away completely before Bucky takes your face in his hand, turning you back to him. You lock eyes once more and you feel like you can't breathe at what you see in his. You don't have time to think on it before his eyes flick down to your lips and then he's kissing you again. His lips press harder against yours, still moving just as gently but somehow it feels much more intimate. Sincere. Real.

You deepen the kiss and then suddenly the whooping and claps around you both bring you back to reality.

You pull away, taking a sobering breath, blinking away the haze of longing as Bucky's delicate touch remains on your cheek. You gingerly reach to take his hand, slowly pulling it off of you. You hold it for a second, squeezing his hand before letting it drop.

The celebration continues all around but you need to get yourself together. Alone.

"'M gonna use the bathroom," you whisper to him, knowing he can hear you even through the din.

You exchange 'Happy New Year' exclamations with everyone you pass on your way to his bathroom and bid goodnight to the people already getting ready to head home. A lot of them have early mornings at the tower, so you get it.

There are only a few people in the living room with Bucky as you look back before you escape to the bathroom, taking your time to decompress.

Sam, Steve, and Nat were talking with him, but his eyes were on you when you looked at them.

You knew this was a bad idea. You knew you'd get caught up in the fantasy. And somehow, he still got you to do it. You curse yourself in the mirror and then notice your smudged lipstick.

The thought of your lipstick staining Bucky's lips right out there has you in a flurry of emotions...

He kissed you. Twice. That actually happened. But did it really mean anything?

Your heart twists as you refuse to believe it could have. You just need to... God, you don't know what you need. All you know is right now you can't stop thinking about Bucky's hands on you. You can't stop thinking of how soft and supple his lips are. And how damn good of a kisser he is.

You look at yourself once more in the mirror.

Fucking hell. What are you gonna do? You sigh, eyes squeezing shut before you shake your head at yourself.

You turn back to the door, opening it right when someone's knock hits.

You're somehow surprised, and yet not at all, to see Bucky staring back at you as you pull it open wider.

"Hey," you say, raising a brow and shoving every fuzzy feeling threatening to strangle you back down.

"Hey," he started. "Everyone left. I just, uh. Wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm good," you nod.

"I'm sorry. About kissing you."

"Oh," you utter - sounding more dejected than you wanted to. "Yeah, no. Don't, don't even worry about it." You muster a shamefully see through smile.

His stare is near invasive as he really looks at you, analyzing you. He opens his mouth to speak, but thinks better of it, instead giving you a tight lipped smile in return.

He nods, then looks to the floor, "Okay," he accepts.

You nibble your lip, crossing your arms as he still stands in front of you.

He notices and moves out of your way, offering a small sorry and a huff of a laugh.

You walk back out into the living room as he follows.

"Wow, this place is a mess,” you breathe a laugh, hoping to keep the subject change.

"Yeah," he agrees, "I'll be having fun tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" you question. "Are you busy now?"

"... I guess not."

"Then grab a garbage bag, Barnes. We've got work to do."

He laughs, "Oh, yeah? You're gonna stay and help me clean up?"

"What are friends for if not clean up?"

He smiles at you as his mind replays his conversation with Sam, Steve and Nat just minutes ago.

He told them the truth about you, and their reaction wasn't what he expected, but definitely what he needed.

"Wait, sorry, you're not dating her?" Nat asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, I'm confused, too," Sam added. "You guys act more like a couple than most couples I know."

"And she's cute, you seem perfect together."

"Well, we're not. Not, not perfect together," he amended, "I mean we're just not together. We're friends. Nothing more."

"Looks like a hell of a lot more, if you ask me..."

"So," Steve finally chimed in, "you spend all that time together, you talk about her constantly, and I saw the way you kissed her at midnight, Buck, but you're telling us it's nothing more than friendship?"

Bucky didn't know what to say. But he knew Steve knew what he was really feeling. He knew exactly what he wasn't saying.

"Do you want it to be more?" he asked. "Because from an outsider's perspective, it seems like you have everything with her but the label."

"I..." Bucky looked around, making sure you hadn't snuck back out of the bathroom yet, "yeah. I do want it to be more. She's, fuckin' perfect," he breathed a laugh as his thoughts, as they always do, strayed back to you. That familiar warmth that fills his chest anytime you're near, or hell, anytime he so much as thinks your name, returned to him. And suddenly his thoughts went back to the softness of your cheek as he held you close earlier. How pliant and perfectly your lips moved against his as you kissed him back. Not once, but twice.

Even still, he thinks back to when he told you why he was so reluctant to go on the dates his friends kept setting up for him. It was a lie when he said it was because he didn't want to date right now... well, partially. He really didn't want to date around. And his mind was focus on other things.

Other things, of course, being you.

When you nodded and told him you got it, that you felt the same way, his heart felt like it deflated by ten.

He was getting ready to finally make his move and ask you out, for real this time. But how could he do that now? He didn't want to be another guy you had to swat away, he couldn't be another one of your rejections. And you gave out plenty, always to his selfish delight if he was being honest. In fact, he can't remember the last time you actually went out on a date. It's been months...

Most of your nights are spent together. Just the two of you. But if you weren't wanting to date anyone right now, and he asked you, he couldn't be sure what you'd say. More importantly, where it'd leave you.

Bucky wasn't stupid, he wasn't blind, and he wasn't deaf. He had every confirmation he could ever want that you liked him the same way he liked you. But he didn't want to chase you away by pressuring a relationship, especially if that's not what you want.

"It's clear she likes you, too, ya know," Steve pointed out what he thought was the obvious.

"I know, I just. I don't wanna push her away by moving too fast. I don't think she's looking to date anybody right now,"

"If you don't ask, you'll never know."

He knew they were right. He needed to just bite the bullet and ask you outright. And he would.

But as he watches you glide around his kitchen, so at home, putting things back in their rightful places and throwing away the random garbage left behind, he thinks maybe not tonight… He doesn’t want to ask a question that might make you leave. But then again…what if it makes you stay?

"Chop chop, supersoldier," you admonish him as he continues to watch, staring dreamily at you. Your back is to him so you can't see his face, but you can feel the weight of his gaze.

Bucky follows your lead, tossing away the empty cups and putting away the leftover food and drinks while you wipe down the counter.

It really wasn't that much of a mess, but you're glad to get it cleaned now, so you won't have to worry about it tomorrow.

Wait...why would you be worried about it tomorrow? This isn't your apartment. God, you really are always over here, aren't you...

You turn to Bucky as he ties off the bag of trash.

You just look at him for a minute. Admiring him from mere feet away while he does the same to you. It's quiet between the two of you, but you can feel the charged silence as it brims with words unsaid.

You know what you want to do right now. But you do what you think you should instead.

"I guess I'll head out, then."

"Oh," he breathes.

"Oh?"

"I just, uh,” he shakes his head, "Never mind."

"No, what is it?" you prod, now entirely curious.

Bucky's bright eyes flash back up to yours and you see him search for what to say instead of saying what was on his mind.

"Your grapes," he remembers, turning to the fridge to get them for you, "you didn't eat them."

"Oh, yeah, well, too late now," you laugh softly.

"What's your resolution?" he asks.

"That's not how the grapes work, Bucky."

"Come on," he goads. "What's your resolution? I wanna know."

"Hmm. Well, good question," you think for a moment, watching him as he rinses off a bunch, then pulls two grapes from their stems. You mindlessly purse your lips as you think. "I want to be less scared," you start quietly, eyes meeting his intent gaze, when he looks back at you, "More confident," you add with a little nod.

"You, more confident?" he asks. "You're one of the most confident people I know. And I know Thor," he adds, getting the laugh he was hoping for from you.

You shrug, "Fake it til you make it." You give a soft, almost sad smile. It physically hurts him to see that hint of sadness in your eyes, and he wants nothing more than to do whatever he can to take it away. He hands you one of the two grapes and you raise a brow as you take it.

"And you?"

Your heart rate kicks up as he steps close, invading your space and standing right before you.

"I…would like to communicate better."

You huff a laugh, tittering, "Yeah, that's a good one."

"Let's both start right now," he says, holding up his grape.

"Okay. Let's," you hold up your own grape, bumping it into Bucky's as if you were toasting before you both pop your own grape into your mouth, stupid smiles on both of your faces.

As you finish, Bucky takes a step closer, surprising you as you look up to him. A bit of deja vu coming over you as you swallow hard. You wait a long breath for him to say something. And then he finally does.

"So. This is me, trying to communicate better: I'm not really sorry that I kissed you. Either time. And if I'm being entirely honest, I'd really like to kiss you again right now."

You're stunned silent and you think you can hear your blood rushing in your ears as you blink up at him.

It takes you a moment before you think you can respond, but Bucky speaks again before you do.

"But I'm not going to do that. Because I want to do this right. In fact, I've been wanting to do this right for months."

"Bucky?" you murmur quietly.

"Doll, will you do me the pleasure of accompanying me to dinner and a movie this Friday?" he asks sincerely.

Your mouth is dry and you have to force yourself to swallow hard again so you can speak. "We always do dinner and movies on Fridays," you point out.

"I mean as a date," he clarifies, holding himself to his resolution.

You stare at him, unsure of what to say. Well, that's not true. You know what you want to say. You know what you want to do. You want to say yes, and you want to lean into him again and indulge him in one more kiss, because you want to kiss him as badly as he wants to kiss you. But that terrified voice in the back of your head is currently telling you to make a run for home as fast as you can. You want to fight the fear, really you do.

Bucky is keeping his resolution already, you're just not sure if you can do the same.

"Uhm," you drone awkwardly.

He laughs that nervous laugh you rarely get to hear...the one you love.

"Is that a yes?" he asks with a hopeful wince.

It takes you a second and then your mouth moves before your brain does as you respond to him.

You stand there, a bit shocked at your own answer, and not entirely sure where to go from here...

[manikas-whims]

Since Xavier is so little prince coded is mc the lone rose 🌹 back on his planet or the fox 🦊

Ohhh wow Anon..I didn't want to think too much on this, mostly because I read The Little Prince like..years ago and the plot isn't that coherently in my head but let's see..

The obvious interpretation can be..

Xavier is the little prince, traveling through the space, wandering on all these planets, learning something new everyday, learning from the people he meets and in turn teaching them something as well..

Queen MC should represent the rose, the Prince’s beloved whom he has left. In the book, the Prince leaves the Rose due to her vain, proud and naive behaviour. But here in Love and Deepspace, the Prince has left his beloved in order to save her from the fate destined for her..In a way, the rose has always been the major source of motivation for his travels..

Then..that must imply that the Fox represents the current timeline MC? In a way, yeah you could say that. The Fox becomes a dear friend and teaches the prince the significance of people in his life. About how one person in this sea of so many, becomes important because of the connection we share with said person, and the time we spend cultivating said relationship with them. The Fox calls this “taming”. According to the fox, “to tame means to establish ties.”

“If you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.” says the Fox.

And since Xavier has left his planet, as well as his timeline and met the current MC, they both have been slowly taming each other i.e. they've been slowly establishing a bond with each other with every encounter and moment spent together in the main story.

Now in The Little Prince..

The Fox teaches the Prince the importance of ties and significance of one person compared to the rest around them:

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

And the Fox makes the Prince realize how dear his beloved Rose is to him, and that he has a responsibility towards the Rose:

“You mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.”

So if Love and Deepspace writers take the same route..

then in accordance, there will come a point that Xavier might have to leave the current MC and go back to his own timeline’s Queen MC (which is exactly what he came back in time for) because he has a responsibility. And the responsibility in this context is that he vowed to himself that he'll save her life. Get her out of this cursed fate of dying and being brought back to life over and over for the sake of a planet.

BUT!

THIS IS A CHINESE OTOME GAME! And yes while that justifies nothing, I firmly believe that it is highly unlikely that the game might follow this route..

..simply because Xavier himself has never acted as such. He's been nothing but protective towards the current MC. He's been killing his own ex-teammates from the Backtrackers in order to protect MC. And he doesn't hesitate in doing so which in itself cement his standpoint and his feelings towards the current MC.

Also, I believe that..IN ESSENCE, QUEEN MC AND CURRENT MC HAVE THE SAME SOUL, AND ARE THE SAME PERSON.

So our MC doesn't need to be the Rose or the Fox. She most likely is both a cherished friend and a lover to Xavier because she is afterall, the same person. With the amount of times she's died (or forced into dying), it's obvious that the Queen MC from Xavier's actual timeline could very well be the current MC who's died so many times that in a distant future, she is reborn and exists in the same era as the one that Xavier comes from.

My word is not absolute, and this is still a very rough way to put it all into words. But I do firmly believe that that one thing that the antis keep using to antagonise Xavier will not come true because he's always been in love with ONE person and our MC as well as the Queen MC are THAT one and the same person.

» But hey! If Xavier does betray current timeline MC, then we might possibly get a plotline/route like I posted about [HERE] and I am not averse to that.

[catastrophicdisasters]

alright i need to ramble abt TUA s4 somewhere that isn't at someone who doesn't care lmao

putting it under a see more bc a lot of it is based on stuff that's been said in the recent cast interviews and could definitely be considered spoilers

tl;dr: a theory post about who, if anyone, i think is going to die this season (and why, ranked by how narratively coherent i think their death would be, and how it would - or wouldn't - round off their character arc)

emphasis on the "i think", as obviously this is my opinion on what i think would make a satisfying narrative

so, in one of the interviews from today, Robert is asked how he feels about the "kind of sacrifice" at the end of the story, and his response is "yeah there's a kind of death that happens" and to then wax philosophical about physical death vs the kind of death that happens when the memory or the person is gone, and how there's a "kind of passing that happens"

and like, most people are convinced that someone's going to die by the end of the season, myself included, but i've just had another idea Robert really talked AROUND the word death, saying "a kind of death" and "a passing", and with him talking about that 'do you die when you physically die or when nobody alive can remember you' style thing, I'm thinking that maybe someone gets themselves erased from the timelines

so they still EXIST, as theyre not physically dead, but because nobody can remember them, it's still a kind of death (exactly like Robert said)

whether or not that person retains their memories is kind of irrelevant, though them keeping them does make for a more tragically satisfying arc - they gave up their existence to keep their family safe/save the world, and yet none of them will ever look at them with recognition or love again, and will never truly know just what they did for them. i think that could be done really well, as there's a special kind of beauty in a character who is happy to accept their own end in order to protect those they love (also, if i wanted to get super analytical of that, i could draw parallels between that idea and the trailer's choice of song - The End; the opening song of The Black Parade album, the funeral song that kicks off the narrative album with themes such as the life that comes after death-)

~

now, with that said, i want to go off about who my top choices for death/erasure actually are:

well, first i want to say who i don't think it's going to be, and that's Diego and Lila. and that is because they've set up this little family arc for them via Lila's pregnancy, and right from ep1 it was established that Diego was the most attached to Grace - his mother figure - highlighting the importance of the parental figure in his life. both of them have a strong sense of detachment and independence / not needing anyone else, while actually longing to be part of something, to have a family unit. so with the two of them now being married and having a child together, especially given what Ritu said in an article - that "they are not really communicating and are snapping at each other" - it sets up the perfect arc for them to find their place, together, and forging the family dynamic they both so clearly want.

I could talk more about them (i.e, Diego having multiple instances that make reference to his desire to prove himself to his father, vs Lila collapsing post s2 because she just wanted to know if The Handler - if her mother - ever really loved her), but that's not the point of this post

so working backwards from who i think is least likely (and why, obviously):

Viktor:

- originally i had a big question mark over Viktor, bc ive always kind of struggled to pick up the threads of his arc, but even then i still don't think that death/sacrifice would be narratively satisfying for him? is it possible that he sacrifices himself to save his family? i mean… i guess? he's always been more passive and less confrontational than the others, so even if the opportunity presented itself i feel like someone else would probably beat him to the punch

- BUT, that's still not actually the reason i think it won't be him - it's because i think a more satisfying ending for him would be for him to have everything he was denied in childhood. with him coming out, they've set themselves up really nicely to push an ending for Viktor that has him finding himself, understanding himself, and finally being happy with himself. whether he ends up keeping and accepting his powers or not makes no odds as long as HE makes that choice for himself! let him be surrounded by family/people who love him for who he is, let him choose to live for himself and be happy!

Allison:

- i have a similar problem with Allison that i have with Viktor, in that i don't really know where her arc is going, at least as far as the Hargreeves are concerned. Allison's been pretty clear that her priority is her daughter, getting back to her daughter, protecting her daughter. and now she has her back. and she even has Ray back!

- i've never reeeeally been a fan of redemption through death (though there are exceptions), so the thought of her being the one to die/sacrifice herself to save the rest of the Hargreeves just… doesn't sit right with me. particularly because i'm also fairly sure i read somewhere that Emmy said that Allison is kind of "done" with the Umbrella Academy family stuff, and that she's all about being a mother again, which brings me to my next point;

- Allison dying would actually have more of an emotional impact on Claire and Ray than it would to any of the Umbrellas. and, as nice as Ray is and I'm sure Claire will be, they are not the major characters in this show. they are not the ones we have spent three seasons connecting and sympathizing with. would her death still have impact? of course! but i think that there's too much to resolve (such as the events of s3, the fact that she already feels done with them all) to make her death be tragic and satisfying, and to still wrap up everyone else's arcs and the story as a whole

- her finding a way to accept and love her Umbrella family instead of constantly trying to distance herself from them, and learning to balance the family of herself, Ray, and Claire, with her family within the Umbrellas feels like it would be more satisfying for her than sacrificing herself to save the Umbrellas / the world

- could she still end up sacrificing herself to save Ray/Claire, and that in turn leads to someone else dying? yes, absolutely! or something happens to Claire and she no longers cares about living because she can't lose her daughter again? also yes, but that feels a bit... too dark, even for tua

Klaus:

- i feel a little controversial, putting him so far down the list (he's still placed fourth out of eight, though), but the thing is - with his powers back, he is functionally immortal. at that point, the only way he's dying is if he chooses to die. which could still lead to a satisfying end!! the boy who was scared of the ghosts he saw, who became scared of dying, becoming the man who chooses to die? very tasty potential, there. contrasts very nicely with the fact that he kept bringing himself back to life without even realising

- buuuut, that would conflict with what we've heard so far about Klaus's storyline this season; Klaus becoming a scared-of-everything germaphobe, having to learn "how not to be scared of life", falling back into addiction, and learning new aspects of his powers. i don't really see how all of that would lean into a storyline of him accepting death, ya know? it's a lot to do, with not a lot of time to do it well

- i will say, though, that i do love the idea of him somehow finding Dave in the afterlife, and that being part of helping him to accept death - that he can be reunited with the love of his life (this falls apart, however, when you realise that Dave's actor isn't currently credited for any episodes on imdb. still doesn't mean that he won't be, but... makes it less likely)

Luther:

- i genuinely debated with myself about who gets third slot between Luther and Five, but ultimately decided on Luther (which i'll further explain during Five's section)

- Luther literally has no purpose outside of the Umbrella Academy. in s1, he was defined by his being the only 'true' remaining member of the Academy, and having been sent to the moon for a seemingly pointless mission (and even though we now know that he was sent there to protect Abigail - she's alive now, so that doesn't really need revisting). s2 also had him at a loose end - he was fighting simply because that's all he thought he was good at, he tried to give his relationship with Allison another go once he realised she was alive, only for it to turn out that she's married, and then he was a (frankly, terrible) spotter for Five during the paradox psychosis fiasco. s3 literally had him get kidnapped by the Sparrows without anyone really noticing, and although he did eventual fall in love and gett married to Sloane, she vanished with the resetting of the universe. Sloane, incidentally, also doesn't have her actor listed on imdb as returning for s4

- he doesn't really have a multi-season arc to finish off; in fact, the only consistent facet of his personality is his desire to protect his family and 'do the right thing', whatever that might be

- i feel like for him, a good arc to send him on would be him becoming comfortable in his gorilla-body and maturing into the confident leader that would be expected of a "Number One". but, given the way his character has evolved (or devolved) through the series so far, i don't really see them doing that

- in fact, i think it's much more likely that they kill him simply because they don't know what else to do with him. which, ya know, kind of sucks

- HOWEVER, i do think there is good potential in having the first major leader-like decision that Luther makes - free from the influence of others - being to sacrifice himself to save his family. the one time he stands up and says "no, i've made my decision, and it's time for you all to respect that" while also tying it back to his overwhelming desire to love and protect his family? oh yeah, that'd be some good shit right there

Five:

- my god please just let the old man rest

- so, i think Five is less likely to flat out die than Luther is, but i do think some kind of timeline fuckery is much more likely where Five is concerned

- considering what Adian has already said about Five's arc this season

- "He doesn’t know what his place is in the universe. When he goes on this emotional arc with Lila, for the first time, he feels there is a reason for living." - i honestly think killing him would be an incredibly shitty thing to do. having him finally, finally, find his place in the universe, after getting stuck in the apocalypse at THIRTEEN, where he finds his entire family dead, proceeds to then spend 40 years alone, trying to get back to his family, before being picked up by the Temps, turned into a killer, finally getting back to his family, only to end up stuck back in his teenage body AND having to deal with three weeks of constant apocalypses, to then kill him???? jesus christ that would SUCK. like, i'm aware i have bias because Five is one of my favourites and i think his arc has some insane narrative potential, but i cannot be the only one thinking that if they kill him after all of that it's just going to leave a bitter taste?

- THAT SAID!! that said, i do think that it's likely that he would be the one that ends up getting erased from various timelines in order to save his family

- his whole thing has been about getting back to his family to save them from the apocalypse - to have him find his ultimate purpose being to do exactly that? it makes sense!

- in erasing himself from this timeline in order to save it, his purpose also then becomes founding the Temps Commission, with the intention of preserving the new main timeline that he literally 'died' to create and protect (and considering that they technically exist outside of the timeline, who is to say this isn't all part of Commission Founder Five's master plan anyway? hell, given that the Commission resides in the year 1955, he can go play guitar with Marty McFly and bitch about the perils of time travel while he's there)

- it would also solve the awkward elephant in the room; the fact that as of s4 he looks 18 but is actually in his 60s. he can erase himself from the main timeline, putting himself back into his old man body, and retire in peace knowing he's successfully saved his family and given them a future by also saving the world

- it's so deliciously tragic

Ben:

- oh god okay here we go

- i adore Ben and don't really want him to die, but i'd be lying if i said that his death wouldn't be incredibly satisfying, in the way only a true tragedy can be

- we all know this season is going to be focused on him and how he is going to be the one to cause the apocalypse this time, so it ending with him would make sense

- Blackman (the showrunner) has also said that he "wanted to come full circle with the family relationship". what is the FIRST thing we know about Ben? he's dead

- for the first two seasons, he haunts the narrative in a literal sense by being a ghost that only Klaus can see and so still sort of interacting with things, but considering we don't yet know what the Jennifer Incident is and how it actually affected the Umbrellas moving forwards, it could turn out that he has also been actually haunting the narrative - he's dead but so much has been driven by the nature of his death

- i also just really love the idea that the first thing we learn about Ben is that he's dead, and that also ends up being the last thing we learn about him

- taking it a step further, given that the Ben in the recap was definitely Sparrow Ben, it would be disgustingly, delightfully tragic for the final fate of Sparrow Ben to be the same as that of Umbrella Ben - that nothing any of them did actually mattered, because in the end, Ben was always going to die (can you tell i like a good tragedy)

- also, going far too deep into it (to the point that this isn't so much evidence that Ben is the most likely to die, but just a nice little tie in), parts of Ben's arc very much tie into the narrative of The Black Parade. you know, the MCR album that the song they used in the official trailer came from. The Black Parade, as an album, opens with a funeral song (just like the show opened with a funeral) and then continues to go over The Patient's life after death, the experiences from the afterlife, and even reflecting back on his life. quite fitting for Ben, in a way

- ANYWAY! Sparrow Ben also spent a good chunk of his time in s3 desperately wanting to be part of the Umbrellas, but having no idea how to go about it. the thought of him sharing the fate of Umbrella Ben and therefore becoming just like him, becoming Umbrella Ben? poetic

- there is also my sort-of half-theory, that the reason Ben is being overloaded with the Marigold is that he's actually somehow channeling both versions of Ben, so has twice the amount he should have, thereby destabilising him in some way, and one of the Bens needs to die. but, that doesn't really tie into Jennifer in any way, because that wouldn't have happened in the original/main timeline

- Ben is also the only character to have actually existed as multiple versions of himself in the two timelines - again, it is a perfect tragedy for him to die in both of them. maybe this time they save him from the Jennifer Incident, only for him to choose to sacrifice himself to save them all. ergo, it didn't matter, it didn't matter, he was always going to die

- i really like a well executed tragedy, okay? i also feel like it's one of the few satisfying ways to successfully kill off a character. still hurts like a bitch, but at least it was worth something

~

okay well, this got sufficiently away from me! kudos to you if you read the whole way through, and i do not blame you in the slightest if you skipped through lmao i also probably missed a few things, and maybe got a few things wrong so uh, whoops on that

tl;dr: probably won't die: Diego, Lila unlikely to die, but possible: Allison, Viktor wouldn't surprise me if they died: Klaus, Luther probably won't die, but might end up erased from the main timeline: Five most likely to die (and would be beautifully tragic): Ben

again again - purely my opinion!! and also what i'd like to see, based on what i personally feel can make a good narrative!

good luck for the 8th brellies <3

[katyspersonal]

If you were curious, this song basically sums up everything of why I find Radagon sympathetic (timeline being sometime after the Twins were born)

(Attaching Youtube one with the lyrics just in case)

This is a beautiful song! And no, I agree with your vision that Radagon was not unfeeling nor "divorce selfie" meme when he left Rennala and his children! It is really funny to do all the divorce jokes and exaggerate how much of a bitch he can be for the comedic effect, I love this kind of cruel humour! xD

But in the end, Rennala did charm him enough to opt out for marriage and erasing his war crimes in Liurnia from the collective memory, instead of conquering the continent and erasing Carians instead, right? 🤔 He most likely can and did love her and his children, but he is bound with the problems of divinity as much as Marika if not more, right? Marika is just the latest carrier of Elden Ring, so, Greater Will's vision and Golden Order is just her iteration of it, when previously it were Ancient Dragons!

^^^ @izunias-meme-hole I am bringing your ask to answer here too because I went on this topic's territory here! :p

But Radagon didn't make the Golden Order "manifest" like this, he is Golden Order! His Japanese title is literally 黄金律, ラダゴン ((the) Golden Order, Radagon). His existence is a combination of the divinity and power Marika was given, where Two Fingers were guiding her and her own biases, principles and other things that give Golden Order its "current imperfection"! Let alone the fact that Marika is the dominant alter!

They were both dealing with "caged divinity"! But whereas Marika had the courage to kill herself (or get as close to it as possible, leaving it to Hewg and whoever he helps to maybe find the way to finish this), Radagon clearly liked living more :p And it is hard to blame him because whereas long long time ago Marika was just a traumatised Shaman woman that wished to make a better world where what happened to her village could not happen again, Radagon never existed as such! The divinity and this "better world" is all there was to him!

^^^ All three Mending Runes we get change the Golden Order, and it is no wonder that he is fighting us! At the first glance you'd think it makes no sense; why, if we just want to fix it? Something he himself wanted to do?

But like.. this is the point. :p He is like this because Golden Order is like this. It is not that he is protecting his power and the right to keep oppressing this or that kind of folks like any real world corrupt authority would! He goes beyond, a blend of a 'person' and of a 'concept', and is protecting his existence! Of course he doesn't want to be mended by someone except himself, because then it won't be HIM anymore! It is not that Those Who Live in Death should be condemned or anything- he probably doesn't even have an idea they exist since they appeared after Shattering! It is that Golden Order exists because Death was sealed, and he would get theseus-ship'd if that (or anything else) was changed! As if a law of nature was given the sentence and self-comprehension! I mean it: you won't wish on your worst enemy to be in Marika's OR in his situation!

Greater Will would be content with any Order, it simply created life but wants it to have a coherent form as opposed to primordial chaos!

And it seems like it abandoned everyone over Elden Ring being shattered! I pictured it as Marika shattering the "phone" between the world and itself, but it could've also been a gradual process! Like it seeing that no matter what the new Order doesn't rise from the ruins, nor the former one gets fixed. Maybe it just said "well THIS attempt at creating life with actual rules was a failure, I'll go try again, bye you weeaboo shits" fsdhfdsh The theory about us being an experiment, and a failed one at that that was abandoned by god/gods/aliens/whatever lingers somewhere amongst humanity, and here you can see it manifest.

Nonetheless 1) you'd expect the Two Fingers, its grandchild, to still remember its wishes and wish the same thing and 2) Greater Will possibly was still there long before the Shattering to do this:

I fucking love the "Sorry Rennala, I found someone better than you: myself" jokes and use them at any given chance fhhds But I am just saying, on the serious note, I do not actually think this IS what happened :p. If anything, Marika would be the one to want to hold the Golden Order as close to herself as possible, so it would be kept pure and in contact with the Greater Will like herself! I am considering the idea that she saw something similar to Goldmask's insight, except instead of drastically removing the 'person' from equation (at the time!) she wanted it to be "closer to the stars" for the lack of better term! Back then, maybe it looked like that way, it would never go corrupt, never fail her. After all, regrets and decision to destroy it only came after Godwyn was killed!

And in both cases, it was someone else who wanted Radagon to leave, and nothing really suggests that he was happy or indifferent doing so! He remade the sword Rennala gifted to him to symbolise the change, but nothing says which emotions were behind that process! It could've been any of them, and all interpretations are fair! He had duty to manifest the way things worked even more so than Marika, who at least GOT to live a normal human life long ago, but it doesn't mean he didn't care about how much pain he caused to Rennala in following that duty! On the other hand, bitter irony is that Radagon actually got to live a normal life - with Rennala and the kids! And just like Marika, he experienced leaving it behind to do "bigger" things. It is sad that the cruelty of caged divinity repeated even in her other self! 🤔

____________________

I've side-tracked in validating a more sympathetic reading of him (I just have a dark, immature humour that sometimes poisons my perception of the character on the first glance XD)! There is sadness about him. His one REAL sin is lacking the same courage Marika had, to die so the new, better era begins, but even then this "choice" is made for him when Elden Beast takes his motionless body as its weapon! The territorial aggressions, as well as principles of the Golden Order, are "fault" of Marika's personality as a 'god no better than humans' (which is FAIR), Two Fingers that gave her ideas via broken telephone, and maybe Greater Will in some capacity! "The roots were rotten", so Radagon could also only be rotten!

+ I also think that Radagon came into existence because Marika got cursed during the War with the Giants ( x )! Think of one breaking in two as "defence mechanism", because losing the God itself could not be afforded, however cursing the Order of this God was "fair game"! Marika is a tool of Greater Will to make the order, any order, so the tool could not be ruined yet the tool's creation (the Order) could! So, what if now it is only 90% perfect? Remnants of it are Ulcerated Tree Spirits breathing fire, despite being just malformed Minor Erdtrees! I have a theory that the same happened with Trina, as Miquella came into contact with Frenzied Flame but losing an Empyrean could not be afforded! That comes from the fact this sleep power is conceptual opposite of FF, as well as Torrent having burnt marks, his summon ring already having its part 'drained', him fearing the Abyssal Woods and Miquella being shown to ride in him the Shadow Realm before! It is a long one but you can see where I am going with this!

[thesoulbox]

GUYS HEAR ME OUT I HAVE A GGY AU IDEA IF IT HASN'T ALREADY BEEN DONE YET. (if it has please tell me I would love to see it 👀👀)

What if when Tony gets a little too close to solving the GGY mystery, Glitchtrap goes "This small child is getting too close let's go murder him lol" So Possessed Gregory leads him into the Pizzaplex and tries to kill him, but somehow Tony persuades them both to keep him alive, offering to provide his services, like helping with creating fairly realistic cover up stories for the more recent murders, spreading lies and rumors about different things to throw the public off their scent, etc etc. Glitchtrap/GGY is hesitant at first but decides to keep him, not only seeing him as a somewhat valuable asset that he could easily kill if things went awry, but also seeing him as a liability due to how much he knows . So Tony is just following them around at this point knowing that if he doesn't he'll probably get murdered (random sidenote but he is not glitchtrapped/possessed), there are occasionally times where Gregory is actually coherent and aware of himself and he seems to be incredibly grateful that his friend is there helping him and being so understanding, despite the terrible circumstances they are both stuck under. Tony is glad that he can be somewhat of a confidant even considering the dire situation they are both in. Tony watches multiple other people get murdered by Gregory and Vanny, and has unfortunately led people into their own demise unwillingly (He doesn't kill them, he just leads them into a trap and yk) (kill or get killed ✨). The only reason he hasn't entirely broken down / ran away is because he doesn't want to leave his best friend behind. He knows there has to be some way to get him out of there, which is why he spends so much time studying the situation, he is constantly trying to find a weak link, some way to get his friend out of Glitchtrap's grasp. Even though he knows that if he gets caught or slips up, he will most likely get killed or worse.

I would really like to write this into a story but I would need to set an entire timeline and whatnot, think of scenes, the regular old writing shiz biz.

But what do you guys think? would you like me to make this into a fanfic bcuz I'm genuinely interested 👁️👁️

[cherryfennec]

I need advice how to build my AU. How did you get so big?

(Also, do you take request)

Hi! I'm not sure what exactly you mean by that but I'll try my best to answer and hopefully include what you were looking for.

1. I'm not an AU expert, far from it actually. In my personal opinion a way to approach making AUs is by finding a concept to latch on and expand. You don't need to have everything figured out yet to share it with others, you can only have an idea for 1 character or for one place at first and gradually add on. It's also worth noting not all AUs need to be big to have charm, you shouldn't feel stressed/pressured into making everything detailed. After you got the premise (like for example character X is now a spider instead of whatever they were before) you can think about how X or different people would react. Would they be happy? Would they be sad? Would they try to stop it/change it? It's all about connecting the dots really, both big and small. You can set a goal and again think about what would X do to reach it. Like I said I'm not really an expert on this. In my case I drew 3 villains together and realised they could technically be able to coexist in a single timeline by accident.

2. I'm not sure if you mean "get so big" as in my AU or my account but: In the case of my AU I was lucky enough to find others who enjoyed the concept (as rough as it was and still kinda is) and to this day im very grateful for such a warm reception. Some people met me through that post and some were here before. Some were from Tumblr and some were my older mutuals/friends or random people from the other platforms I use to share my stuff, most notably Twitter. The AU is still growing, albeit rather slowly, and one day it might reach a point of a coherent story with a solid start and an end which I really hope for. (I won't hide that I'd love to make it in writing and post in chapters on sites like AO3 to read). What keeps me going is the fact that I like to think about niche things. In my free time I add the ideas onto a pile and when I think it's notable enough/interesting or I'm confident about it I then share it online too for those few who are interested. It got bigger because I'm having fun with it.

If you meant "how did you get so big" when it comes to account then I honestly don't have a specific answer. I just try my best to bring something new to the table I guess and in result I meet people who are also passionate.

3. Not particularly. Unless it's a friend or in some cases a person I recognise/mutual I don't do art requests (if that's what you meant). I can't really bring myself to draw something I don't want to. I make exceptions when an ask catches my eye or makes me giggle but overall no.

[gffa]

Hi there! I’m someone who’s been following you for Star Wars for a while but I’ve become really interested in your DC comics posting recently, and I was wondering - since the franchise has been going for so long and has so many instalments - what you would say to someone who wants to start reading these comics/watching the shows/movies but doesn’t know where to start? Have a lot of the comics been retconned? Is there a particular order one has to read in? Where does one even find these comics…?

My interest in this franchise was literally sparked by the Jason Todd telephone poll so I’m definitely interested in reading more about him - he seems like a character I’d like - and the rest of like, the… Batfamily, I think they’re called? I just have no idea where to start lol - my knowledge of DC is limited to seeing bits of Teen Titans GO when I walked past my little brother watching TV, and watching the Lego Batman movie with him xD

Also! If I’m correct, after observing the fandom, Talia seems like an interesting, complex female character (with some bad writing), like Padmé or Bo-Katan? I always love those kinds of characters, just wondering if I’d got the right impression of her.

Hi! You've got a solid idea of things so far, so hopefully, this shouldn't be too hard of a climb to get used to the structure! And I'll do my best to explain the structure of comics without getting too lost in the weeds about it. 😂

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW: In my view, comics aren't meant to be a single coherent whole and it's helpful to drop that idea before you get started because otherwise you'll drive yourself around the bend in a fruitless attempt to make everything line up neatly, when it just never will. There is no one single "true" version of the characters, there is no one single creator who is the highest authority on a character, no matter who created the character or even who is most famous for writing them, these are shared characters being written and drawn by a multitude of authors and artists who all have varying takes on them. The characters should stay true to a core personality and traits, but the flexibility of an author to write a character differently from the last person who wrote them is a feature not a bug imo. I like to think of comics as stories being told by different authors playing with action figures and we're in the audience enjoying these stories, regardless of how some authors fit really well together and others completely clash with each other. You can try to make them mesh (sometimes that's fun!) or you can just shrug your shoulders and pick what you like out of the pile of comics that have been handed to you (you'll probably drive yourself less over the edge this way!). Jason is particularly difficult on this aspect, because he often doesn't have a regular book to be written in and his overall place/point in the Batman comics is murky at best somedays and so he is wildly different from author to author. I personally enjoy this, because I think it works for Jason as a character who has some core beliefs, but also is kind of a mess who doesn't really know what he wants, so he veers wildly from one reaction to another. You can read comics in a variety of ways, but I genuinely do not recommend trying to read "in order" because it's a nightmare to try to keep track of everything once it's been a few years and the numbering of these series is the most confusing thing you'll ever meet. Instead, I think it's better to focus on picking up trades (collections of comics that originally came out in single issues, but are put together in a single volume that tells the whole story of that particular run) that sound interesting or come recommended. (And, honestly, it's not even satisfying even if you did do all the work to read them in order. Throw out the idea that comics have a coherent timeline, because they do NOT.)

CONTINUITIES AND DIFFERENT ERAS: The ONLY context I think you need (other than a general sense of the Batfam, we'll get there in a minute) is to understand that there are sort of four "continuities" that you're likely to run into, and this is EXTREMELY simplified/streamlined, so nerds don't come for me on this unless you have a better streamlined and simple version. 😂 - Anything published before 1985-1986 is all "Pre-Crisis" and while reading a lot of the older comics can be super fun, they're generally not super relevant to current comics - In 1985-1986, there was a comics event (an event is where multiple different comic books are all written to be part of a bigger storyline, whereas normally, they don't cross over that much, each book usually has its own self-contained storylines) called "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (which is different from "Infinite Crisis") that was basically a way for DC to streamline all the different versions of the characters running around into one manageable universe. This ran up until about 2011 and I'll often refer to it as the "preboot" or "post-Crisis" continuity. (This is where Jason's death happened, in the storyline "A Death in the Family".) - In 2011, DC wanted to reboot their entire universe with an event called "Flashpoint", with the purpose of creating an all new lineup of 52 comics that new readers could jump right into, which isn't a bad idea in theory. The problem was that people were really attached to the preboot versions of the characters, a lot of the Nu52 comics were really badly written, and there was almost no collaboration. You expect a certain amount of contradiction just by the nature of comics, but there were major issues with "nobody is talking to each other, so everything is a giant mess".

- In 2016, for a variety of reasons (probably including that sales for Nu52 had dipped back down pretty far again), DC rebooted their universe again, with "Rebirth", which is the continuity we're in now. I'm still catching up (I left when Nu52 happened) but I think a lot of preboot events are leaking back into the continuity, but that's not the same as saying it's equal to the preboot continuity in total. This is also the era that I generally talk about the most because I've found it genuinely the most engaging to get back into! Generally, as long as you understand those four eras of continuity, I think you'll be fine in understanding how things are put together. If you want to know where something falls, just check the date and that'll tell you! But, honestly, yeah, background details change all the time, so even within a single continuity there will be retcons--just that there are MASSIVE differences in the Nu52 era that might confuse you if you're unaware of the reboot shenanigans. (Or if you want to understand how Jason returned--like, preboot continuity has the explanation that Superboy Prime (don't ask) punched reality so hard that it shook Jason back to life, even if they never found out about it, that's what happened. I think Nu52 said Talia dug him up and put him in the Lazarus Pit? Don't quote me on that. I flamed out hard on Nu52. Rebirth continuity, they have no idea what the hell happened and I'm not sure there's an explanation. I just assume the Reality Punch leaked back in or something.)

SO, LIKE, WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE CHARACTERS? AS SHORT AS I CAN MAKE IT: - Bruce Wayne witnesses his parents being murdered in front of him and this traumatizes him so badly that he withdraws from life to obsess over it, eventually travelling the world for several years to learn every kind of skill he can, until he comes back to Gotham at, like 22 years old or whatever and becomes Batman to fight crime. The only rails on this ride is his butler Alfred who basically raises him from the time he's eight and Alfred is working MIRACLES here, but there's only so much even he can do. He is absolutely Bruce's father figure, even if they rarely frame it in those terms, because Thomas Wayne (Bruce's father) is such an important figure in their lives and because Alfred is extremely British. - Bruce is Batman for a few years, usually depicted as being super grimdark because he's shut his heart against loving anyone ever again because the pain is too much. But then one night he's at a circus performance and there's a terrible "accident" where a little 9 year old boy (shhhh we ignore any other versions than that he was nine, dammit, it's important for the thematic parallels!) witnesses his world-class aerialists parents falling to their deaths. Dick Grayson's grief and loss spark something in Bruce and he takes on this grieving, angry, brilliant little boy as his ward. Now, not even God can stop Dick Grayson, who is going to get justice for his parents' murder, so eventually Bruce reveals that he's Batman and Dick basically barges his way into creating his sidekick persona, Robin. Bruce is not a fan of this, but seriously. He couldn't have stopped that kid, he tried. He could only put a leash on him. Dick brings light and joy back to Wayne Manor and they have the most fascinating relationship--they're father & son, they're brothers, they're best friends, they understand each other like no one else does, they fight like no one else in that family does, they love each other, they're so angry at each other, they're co-dependent and absolutely batshit about each other, they basically raise each other from the time Dick came to Wayne Manor. - Dick eventually grows up and starts clashing with Bruce more, especially as he gains his independence. Different versions happen differently in different continuities, but eventually it hits a boiling point and either Bruce fires him as Robin or Dick quits because he can't deal with this. He goes off to become Nightwing, while Bruce eventually meets another kid who (in the most common version) tries to steal the Batmobile's tires because he needs the money. Circumstances happen, Bruce eventually ends up adopting Jason Todd, who becomes the next Robin. Things are relatively stable for awhile, until Jason learns about his birth mother and runs off to try to reconnect with her, except the Joker's got his sticky fingers all up in this situation, and it results in Jason dying in the exploding building.

- Bruce is Not Doing Well after this, so in comes our favorite horrible little stalker gremlin Tim Drake, who hunts down Dick Grayson and says, hey, you gotta become Robin again because Batman's going to get himself killed if you don't. Dick is like, no, I fucking do not. Tim responds with, well, guess I gotta do it myself then and basically barges his way into being the next Robin. He bonds with Dick as a brother (who is far and way Tim's favorite, imo), he does his best to be as good of a Robin as he can be. - Things are better after that, they're fairly well into Batfamily territory by this point. Jason comes back and, originally, it was supposed to be a trick, it was a villain pretending to be him, but was later retconned to actually be Jason who came back and... it's complicated. I don't think they really knew what to do with him once he came back, so he kind of ping-pongs around with varying levels of villainy for awhile. - Then we get to the time around Batman R.I.P. where a lot of shit happens all at once, especially for Tim. Bruce dies fighting a Justice League villain, Tim also has his bio-dad die around this time, his relationship with his ex-girlfriend/good friend is kind of going to shit, the boy he's in love with (not canon at the time, but current day storylines basically confirm it was true) also died and it wrecked Tim, like he lost his MIND over Conner Kent's death, there's this annoying little shit Damian Wayne who has showed up as the bio-son of Bruce, and then suddenly Bruce also dies. And Dick has to become Batman because Gotham needs Batman and he's in mourning and dealing with Jason being back and everything OFF THE RAILS as various people are like, "No, I'M going to be Batman now!" and Dick has to shut all that shit down and take up the mantle himself despite that he doesn't want it AND deal with Damian being an emotionally traumatized 11 year old baby assassin who has been abused into being a killer his entire life (I mean, it's comics, don't take it too seriously) and he needs something to hold onto or he's going to leave and go back to killing, so Dick and Alfred give the Robin mantle to Damian, which pisses Tim off because he's not doing well and sees it as a betrayal (while Dick was asking for his help as an ally, that he was ready to graduate to being more than just Batman's sidekick) because he's lost so much. - So we have Dick & Damian as Batman & Robin (THIS ERA WAS SO GOOD), Tim as Red Robin (fandom way overplays Tim and Dick's tension, they come back together after their dramatic few months), and eventually they find Bruce who was lost in the time stream (don't ask) and then, WHAM, Nu52 happens. But basically, that's the Robins timeline. I'm skipping over Steph's turn as Robin because it was so short and it was clearly set up just to knock her down, as well as not touching on Cass much because this is long enough as it is and I'm trying to circle back to focusing on Jason-friendly stuff.

WHERE TO START: Ask a dozen different people where to start and you'll get a dozen different answers! I think starting anywhere is fine and it's going to depend on what you like--for example, I'm personally not that into the animated DC movies (not enough of my Blorbo) but "Batman: Under the Red Hood" is generally very well-regarded as an updated version of Jason's return and is nicely self-contained if you want to watch it without much other context. I also think watching the Justice League animated series from 2001 is fantastic if you want a funny, charismatic, streamlined adaptation of what the Justice League is like. (Batman: The Animated Series was groundbreaking at the time and a really good adaptation, but very dated by this point in time, so I hesitate to recommend it too much, even though it's beloved to me.) The Wayne Family Adventures is an absolutely adorable, delightful webtoon adaptation that is very light-hearted compared to the mainline comics! I like recommending it to new fans because I think it's super easy to start reading without too much extraneous context and gives you an idea of the characters' relationships to each other, so long as you understand that it is EXTREMELY soft and is much in the vein of LEGO Batman content--you're not supposed to take it super seriously, there are times it's deliberately crossing into something like parody territory, but that doesn't mean it's not genuinely funny, charming, and a great read. @fantastic-nonsense has an incredibly thorough list of recommendations for comics by character here, and you can scroll down to the Jason Todd section and start reading there! Or you can check out the "A STARTING POINT: BATMAN IN OTHER MEDIA" section because I pretty much 100% agree with everything she says about the various adaptations. I like recommending "Young Justice" as an introduction to DC, so long as you understand that it's a loose adaptation and that the team compositions and various relationships are not always going to be accurate to comics dynamics. I have my own comics recs tag, but I'm more Dick-focused, so your mileage is going to vary on how useful you might find my recs! But basically, you can't go wrong with starting with "A Death in the Family", then "Under the Red Hood" (movie then comics) and "Red Hood: The Lost Days". Basically, anything by Judd Winick has a good chance of being a solid read for him. It's hard to recommend Jason comics, because so many of them are either not great or require knowledge of the events that are going on around the same time--but, honestly, once you're familiar with the set-up, I do think you can pick up almost any trade and pick up context along the way. I personally also loved "Robins: Being Robin" series, because all five of the Robins working to solve a case together and being unhinged weirdos at each other is my jam. (But I like pretty much anything Tim Seely writes!) I also always recommend the 2016 Nightwing series because Dick is my Blorbo, but I also think "Robin & Batman" by Jeff Lemire is a fantastic story to understand who baby Dick Grayson is and his relationship with Bruce, and both "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" are some of the best Batman comics I've ever read, but they can be tough to get through if you don't like Tim Sale's very stylized art.

WHERE TO FIND THESE THINGS TO READ? The movies and animated series should be on HBOMax and/or Netflix, and comics I always recommend hitting up your library to see what they have--so many libraries have a ton of comics available, especially digitally! And, if you have a library card, it's very possible that your library partners with Hoopla, where they have a ton of Batman comics! You can also check out DC Universe, which has almost all DC comics if you get a subscription.

TL;DR: If you want bigger context on how all this stuff works, start with either "Justice League" or "Young Justice", they're really cute, fun adaptations. If you want to get straight to the Jason stuff, start with "A Death in the Family" --> "Under the Red Hood" --> "Red Hood: The Lost Days" --> "Batman: Urban Legends vol. 1". (And, yeah, you have the right impression of Talia! She often gets written as a villain, but she's also often a lot more complex than that, it really depends on who you get to write her. The corner of fandom I hang out in is generally more generous to her, but some of the actual comics can be kind of rough. But she's complex and has a lot of sharp edges, so, you know, I love her, too. 😂)

[askourweavetalecharacters]

Welcome!

How did you stumble across this thing!? I thought this would be undiscoverable… I digress.

Welcome to the Official WeaveTale Ask Blog!™ Here you can find some WACKY stuff from EVERYBODY'S favorite & most iconic UNDERTALE AU, WeaveTale!

…

You… you have no idea what the hell a "WeaveTale" is? No, no, don't Google it, you won't find it right away… NO, it's not the organization "WeaveTales," that was a total coincidence. Let me explain.

WeaveTale is one of those AUs that alters the direction/events/story of the original game. Think of what Handplates or Endertale did, but on crack, and potentially several other stimulants. Essentially, at some point before/during the events of the original game, a massive, dimensional scale calamity occurred that mashed, threw, ripped apart and fused ~90% of all timelines in their universe. This event is known as "the merge." Many, many bizarre things happened collaterally in the aftermath; past characters were brought back to life, new characters rose from the ashes, etc. Namely, anybody & everybody now has the ability to traverse through the barren husks of timelines, frozen in time. This means that multiple of the same character can be in one timeline at once. That is very, VERY important, so keep it in mind for later.

The worlds inside of the timelines remained relatively intact (aside from some layout changes for some reason), however the vast majority of the inhabitants were violently thrown across time and space, ripping them away from the ones they know and love. Unfortunately, in such a scenario, most character's psyches dwindled fast and hard, spiraling rapidly into madness. It's a genuine rarity to come across more than a handful of rational, coherent individuals. They all USED to be normal… but they lost everything.

… but what if characters from the same timelines found each other? What if characters found solace in befriending individuals from different timelines? What if… it didn't have to be so hopeless?

WeaveTale is centered around a found family who met and bonded after the merge, having nobody other than each other. Some are characters from UNDERTALE, others are entirely original. All timelines in this universe, while having the same characters & events of the original game, have unique and varying backstories for all characters who inhabit them. No two people will have the exact same origins, even if they're literal identical copies of one another.

3 of my closest friends and I have crafted WeaveTale over the past 6 years through a Roblox UNDERTALE roleplay game (the one by siqk). Initially beginning in late May/early June of 2018, it's blossomed into something beyond what our wildest dreams could have possibly predicted. We're very, VERY passionate about this, so we're more than happy to spread the word of this silly little family. Speaking of…!

───────────────────────────────

THE (MAIN) CHARACTERS

SNOWEY DREW THEM ALL, CHECK IT OUT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In this blog, you'll be able to ask my characters and my friend Snowey's characters absolutely ANYTHING you want to. Fair warning: The family dynamic and relationships are fucking WEIRD.

(Here's a question that EVERYONE responded to. It sums up all of their personalities pretty well.)

MY CURRENT CHARACTER LINEUP

(NOTE: These characters may not be the only ones to appear. I have ~89 characters. Most of them are total jokes and incredibly minor, but there's a select few who I may bring in for some cameos. The main lineups also may expand over time, assuming this blog gains ANY traction whatsoever. Also, if you stumble across a post with a character(s) not listed here, such as one like this, feel free to ask that character questions as well! These are just the main-est of the mains.)

PUNS

Puns is the nickname of my Sans. He comes from one of the few timelines that was untouched by the merge.

He's a lot more "grown up" than UNDERTALE's Sans, now having actual responsibilities and whatnot.

Funnily enough, despite his nickname, I don't think Puns ever tells any jokes…

CHARMX

Charmx is the nickname of my Chara, who comes from the same timeline as Puns.

Yes. Charmx. I stole Karl's old username. Back in 2019, I called her "Charmx" as a joke, and for some reason it stuck as a legitimate nickname… sorry Karl.

Charmx was brought back to life by the merge, her aging permanently stunted. Imagine being twelve FOREVER. And not even being able to DIE! Christ…

She's Puns's adopted daughter, having not seen the Dreemurrs in a long time. She's also the adopted sister of Chara Comic (who is played by Crow and isn't currently included in this particular ask blog), and the sister to Shitpost, who we'll get to in a bit.

DAVE

Dave is a demon from hell. Yes, you heard it right, THAT hell. He's 16 thousand something years old, and his purpose in hell was to punish rapists and the like.

Having gotten bored one day, he thought it would be hilarious if he possessed a random Asriel and used him as a vessel to fuck with people. Satan, thinking it was a terribly stupid idea, punished Dave by trapping him in the Asriel's body. Here's exactly how that went down. Dave definitely regretted his decision for a while…

He used to be, well, a huge dick. Entertaining to chat with, but still a dick. After befriending, befucking, and bedating Shitpost, he mellowed out a lot and is now a very friendly, happy guy.

GA A STAR

…

Uh… how do I… explain this…

So back in ~2017 or so, I was playing Vexchan's UNDERTALE roleplay game, and I thought that the 3D Gaster morph looked absolutely ridiculous. Comical, even. So naturally, I wanted to make a Walmart brand version of Gaster using the morph as a joke. I think that, originally, I was gonna name him "Gumpler" or "Gooster" or something along those lines. However, the filter for the roleplay names in that game was fucking ATROCIOUS, so it got censored. And then the next idea I had got censored. And the next. And the next, and the next, so on & so forth. Finally, in my rage, I slammed my fingers down onto my keyboard and mangled together "ga a star," the ONLY name that worked. I went with it, and it stuck.

At some point in late 2018, I decided it would be fun if I brought over a couple old characters of mine from Vexchan's RP over to WeaveTale, which included Ga a star and also Dave. Because there isn't a terrible Gaster morph in siqk's game, I had to compromise and use the Riverperson morph, as a lot of actual Gaster roleplayers did back then due to there not being a Gaster morph in that game at all. So now Ga a star wears a cloak (not shown in his sprite), which is… uh… "enterable."

I don't know how to describe Ga a star as a character. He initially began as a joke, and has evolved into… a stranger joke. But he's part of the family, and I couldn't imagine him not being there. Do not expect coherent responses if you ask him anything. He takes over me whenever I play him or write as him. It's The Lard.

PAPYRUS

Puns's brother. Need I say more? It's Papyrus!

No, seriously, there isn't a catch. He's literally just a regular Papyrus, who I play as accurately as I can.

He's a cool guy.

SNOWEY'S CURRENT CHARACTER LINEUP

SHITPOST (Yes, that's her "actual" name.)

Shitpost is a very, very fascinating… total dumbass. I call her that in the most loving way possible.

Initially made back in 2018 as Snowey's self insert, she has changed DRASTICALLY from what she once was, now being a completely unique, awesome character.

She's Dave's girlfriend, having started dating him back in 2020. When Shitpost is around, Dave's braincells are cast down to the seabed with all the other forgotten things. He loves her a little too much.

Shitpost is also the adopted sister of both Charas. Puns isn't her dad though; they're just good friends.

OK MAN

Having been based on a Roblox glitch in 2018, Ok man is… some dude. We don't know much about him.

He looks like the typical Roblox noob; he's yellow, green and blue. However, he has a big "ok" on his chest, "written" in black. That's how he got his name. Ok man.

Ok man is weird, stubborn, mysterious, and sometimes annoying. And I fucking love him. He's a strange man, and I love having him around.

He throws one hell of a punch…

FLOWEY

Much like Papyrus, he's literally just Flowey. There isn't much of a catch.

Snowey plays him really well, too.

───────────────────────────────

With all of that out of the way, I feel I've gotten the point across pretty well. I don't really know how these ask blogs even work, honestly… but I think I've got it.

Here's some relevant links:

Incorrect WeaveTale Quotes My Deviantart Account (contains in-universe journal entries & other stuff) Snowey's Deviantart Account Crow's Deviantart Account Chara's Tumblr Blog Chara's Twitter Charmx's Twitter Puns's Twitter Dave's Twitter Ga a star's Tumblr Blog Ga a star's Twitter Papyrus's Twitter Shitpost's Twitter Ok man's Twitter Demirramon's Textbox Generator

[a-narcissists-warren]

haio still on a little anonvoid hiatus ^_^

i'mma just be posting screenshots of all the asks i got so i can clean my inbox and both have them like. go somewhere instead of losing them forever

post is long!!! so click keep reading if you wanna see all the silly stuff ^_^ starting from oldest to newest!

[5th July | </3 okay- like i'm never deleting this from my inbox ever]

[9th July | I'VE WANTED TO LIKE SIT DOWN AND ACTUALLY WRITE A COHERENT TIMELINE OF EVENTS FOR THIS ohuhghr maybe some day......]

[9th July | hhrggrhghrghrghjfdgfhjdbhgjrkhgkjrhgkrjhgkfdjuigj sorgy eye mod i love eye anon but i ain't drawin allat right now]

[10th July | OKAY THIS IS ACTUALLY SO WEIRD WITHOUT CONTEXT.... it was a whole thing from the discord server i don't even know how to begin to explain it. but it was all shits and giggles and i like to think my little self-insert keeps these asks under the bed to look at when feeling down ^_^]

[15th July | secret........ oOOoOoOo i actually don't know if i still wanna do this silly thing... gang should i make this the first magic anon when i get back?]

[18th July | oh shit ummmehhh urmmm also this is old their new anon sign off is a pineapple instead of a lemon because...proshitters be taking emoji combos for some reason. anyways you probably already made the design by now BUUUT.....]

[i wanna have some fun........oohh girrlss just wannna haaaveee fuuunn /lyr ............i still can't believe an anon gave birth canonically]

[20th July | i need to interact with badger more.. <3 warrior cats are literally real bro... vro.... vroanonvodi warrior cats au when]

[26th July | ouh pickly.......... save them. gang look over pickly while i go smoke a pack of cigarettes /silly /ref (i don't smoke) ]

[27th July | aw yeah we're going back to short sleeve tee and baggy pants!!!!!!!!]

[28th July | i think i forgot to reply... sorry aliem mod.........]

[28th July | BRO LITERALLY PREDICTED THE ICE ANON- but really </3 wanted to give him a blanket......ouh i'm sorry princess anon........]

[28th July | girl (gender neutral), i had no idea how to reply, i was not gonna draw myself holding onto a baby or whatever cat breed that is /silly..... so so cute art.........]

[28th July | i would've dropped it, screamed and ran away.... scary bugs]

[30th July | ,,very interesting ask i censored just in case i wanna actually reply to it when i'm back,,,,,, didn't reply at the time cuz it was getting close to august and i didn't feel like i should start something that would've probably taken me a week to complete]

[30th July | thisis part of the convo cupid and sleepy were having........ hgjhggfi]

[31st July | I GENUINELY FORGOT TO REPLY TO THIS ASK.]

[31st July | mermaid anon... no one could make me hate you mermaid anon.... i know a theater kid when i see one and i bow to you to continue the show one day..... sorgy for not replying you're so cool]

[31st July | dear GOD. (eye strain... image darkened.... giggles)]

[31st July | my mf doesn't know how to sew for SHIITT, ily cupid anon mwa mwa /p]

[31st July | licks da rock..........]

[31st July | i don't like bacon surprisingly! i don't like a lot of stuff, you'd be surprised]

[1st August | THIS ISN'T EVEN ANONVOID RELATED GANG??? STOP LOOKING AT MY OLD POSTS THEY'RE UGLY!!!]

[1st August | Dean, i can't believe you still ask]

[1st August | SATURN PIANO...... WAAHHH]

[1st August | SIGH.......................... anonvoid server inside joke]

[1st August | this is based off notepad's portal to earth!! if you guys wanna interact with that go to notepads blog since my self-insert is taking a nap]

[1st August | little do they know..........]

[1st August | they're together in this screenshot cuz i got nothing to say,,,, i'm tired]

[voidsumbrella]

betrayal, hide, mask for witchwraithhaven?

iiiiiiiiiii forgot i reblogged this lmao whoops!

oc blocktext time~!

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

…y'know, i don't think ive done a whole lot with literal betrayal arcs for these three? like ive got some conceptual "perceived betrayal of the past self's ideals" going on, and wraith had an ex girlfriend backstab them in an early draft of the writing project, but that got cut bc it made the timeline clunky, and i haven't played with it much outside that.

hide: What does your OC hide? Why do they hide it?

witch: they got so much shit kicked under the bed, both literally and figuratively. their house is a dragon's horde of accumulated Stuff that no one else can access (besides wraith+haven), they are extremely close-lipped about their personal life, if i listed off all the specifics we'd be here all year. their biggest ~secrets~ are the ones that pose a safety risk to them and their loved ones. the most important physical object they're hiding is the only copy of the blueprints for a device that creates gods by destroying universes, and then kills and eats those gods; handling that is the plot of vast and empty spaces was such an Ordeal that they (and wraith) took the knowledge of it out of their head, so that if they get mind read or truth serum'd or something it'll still stay hidden. the memory's just in their room, so it's not like gone-gone, but all they know without checking is that there is something Extremely Destructive in the lowest level of their basement that they shouldn't talk about. the most important concept they keep under wraps is probably their true name. names have Power, and it's important to them that their persona as a wish granter is the main thing people see; even their "common name" is just a shortening of their title, not something they personally picked out to be called.

wraith: they're sometimes accused of hiding their whole self; they're very hard to read, don't communicate their thoughts, and rarely take action in a way that other people can tie directly to them. none of this is on purpose, per se- they're naturally extremely unexpressive, have trouble speaking/signing/writing coherently, and dislike drawing attention the themself- but they know full well that this shuts them off from people and have zero intention to do anything about it, so it's not wholly a false accusation. witch knows them, haven knows them, everyone else can get fucked.

haven: actually does hide a lot of himself as a person, mostly as an anxiety thing. he goes out of his way to cover any skin besides his hands and face (yeah, yeah, full coverage clothing ≠ hiding inherently, but it is what's going on here in this case), it takes a long time for him to be comfortable wearing anything even slightly attention getting; he's extremely self conscious about his hobbies and interests and avoids discussing them; he's a chronic people pleaser and terrified of confrontation, so any conversation with someone he doesn't already know that requires him to have an Opinion will result in him saying whatever he assumes will cause the least friction, even if it means outright lying. his assumptions are often wrong, which is why he can only make friends on accident. oops. he also keeps the whole "reincarnated from another universe" thing under wraps when that becomes relevant, for obvious reasons.

mask: Does your OC wear a mask, literally or figuratively? What goes on beneath it? Is there anyone in their life who gets to see who they are under the mask?

this has a lot of overlap with the last question, in the sense of them having multiple "selves" for a private and public context, but i will be splitting hairs about using the term "mask", because that has some connotative layers to it.

i don't totally think witch's public persona is a mask so much as it is a curation; they're playing a character so they are seen the way they want to be seen/the way they need to be seen in order to do their job, but they keep that character as close to themself as they can, as it's easier for them to be genuine than not. their "actual face" is kind of a behind-the-scenes type deal; as i said before, they have a lot of secret-secrets, but a lot of what they keep behind the curtain is the mechanics that let them keep the play going, and they just don't need other people to see that.

wraith's mask is more of a cardboard cutout they happen to be standing behind. they're not going to try to move out into the open, but with a bit of effort you can walk around it, and they're not going to stop you. they might make the path a bit harder or easier based on if they like you or not, but in the end if you can't or don't find them, that's on you.

haven is only functional in public due to his customer service face, which is very intentionally constructed to be at least partially separate from who he considers himself to really be for the aforementioned anxiety/judgement evasion reasons. secretary!haven can make phone calls. normal!haven gets anxious checking his email. you get the picture.

mask or no, none of them hide any part of themselves from the other two. loving and being loved is synonymous with knowing and being known.

[ntaras]

Would you be willing to speak of this OC you added to the Lin Kuei brothers' dynamic? (Just kidding, you have no choice. 🫴)

HI i’d love to talk about her!!! i’ve been purposefully quiet about her because i’ve been making some changes to her + waiting to finish writing a fic about her 

but because you give me no choice i’ll talk about her

i’ll talk about her in context of her role in the new era because that’s what i’m really currently focused on in regards to her. that and her role in the previous timeline(s) are currently to much of a mess to coherently write about because i’m reworking her previous roles 

ANYWAYS. her name is luna which i did take from the “look to la luna” easter egg because 11 year old me wanted her name to somehow directly reference something in mortal kombat. she is kuai liang’s daughter even though i do view/headcanon kuai liang as someone who would not have kids, but i think it’s fun to bring that element into their relationship. 

the usual backstory for her goes that when kuai liang was a teenager he met a girl named nariyaana (whom i mostly refer to as yaana) and their relationship can honestly be described as a very quick-paced love because they were both so young when pursuing each other. like had they not met when younger, they would never be together because their relationship is solely based on them being young. so far in every timeline yaana has died during childbirth, resulting in kuai liang being a single dad and that moment marking the change from his youthful naivety and growing into the mature man we usually see him as. 

in mk12 before he became the god of fire and was still making his own timeline, liu kang made sure kuai liang and yaana would meet so luna could be born, but what he didn’t decide was when luna would be born. one of the things that frustrated me about kuai liang in mk12 was how he was already treated as a character dealing with so many inner demons and very quickly became this wise and flawless leader, so luna’s inclusion allows me to dump a whole bunch of hardships onto him that make him more tolerable for me. and one of those hardships is the quick and rushed love he had with yaana, resulting in her pregnant and unfortunately dying in childirth at 16 and him bieng a father at 16 (i also decided on doing that because ik the characters are meant to be on the younger side, so making him a teen dad was the route i went with trying to make him as young as i could when the actual story would happen). 

ik cryomancer used to be established as something that was able to be harnessed at an older age (with the exception of the ice brothers and frost), but for mk12 i’m establishing that it’s something that begins to develop at a younger age. i’m still unsure what to do with pyromancy but the idea i’m going with is that it’s something that can very rarely develop in cryomancers instead of cryomancy. 

what happened with luna is that her powers were not showing at all and as she grew older and past the age cryomancy develops (and she showed no signs of pyromancy) it was assumed that she didn’t get her father’s genes of either cryomancy or pyromancy. but eventually at around 10 years old she reveals to bi-han that she does have cryomancy (albeit developed very late and a weaker form of cryomancy), and at that moment bi-han saw potential in her and became her mentor and eventually choose her to be his heir to the lin kuei. 

before i get into the dynamic she has with the brothers (her father and uncles) i need to establish the most important thing about her is her inner powers and her physical body. the reason why her cryomancy developed so late and is weak is because her body is meant for someone who has pyromancy, but she was born with cryomancy. her body is constantly struggling to keep up with itself, but i’ll get more into that in a bit because that’s like one of the most important factors to her relationship with her family. 

bi-han is luna’s mentor, and he chose that role himself after she revealed her cryomancy to him. and the reason he chose to be her mentor is because he 1. Saw potential in her and 2. wanted to build her up to become something greater than the current lin kuei. her issues with her cryomancy and her body already pose a tough a life for her but bi-han’s insertion into her life as her mentor makes things worse for her, as he’s really tough on her. 

bi-han himself was mostly trained by his dad, so a lot of methods bi-han uses are from his dad. BUT the thing with bi-han is that he is also trying to further himself from his father and teach luna differently, but luna still experiences the same harshness bi-han experienced through his own training with his father. it plays with the idea that cryomancy just inherently causes not just physical pain, but a specific isolation that no one else can understand. because of this (and for other reasons) luna struggles making connections with other people and forms a unique connection with bi-han that she cannot form with her own father.

it’s eventually why she chose to stay with bi-han rather than flee with kuai liang and tomas during the story. her inherit cryomancy bound her to bi-han while also she felt like she lost a sense of who she was and felt guilt for having something that sevrerd her relationship with her dad, so it was easier to let him go rather than go with him. 

her physicality (which is constantly causing her pain) is her father’s, while her inner self (which is also constantly causing her pain) is bi-han’s. she’s kind of like the physical representation of the dispute between the two brothers. just like her body cannot naturally keep up with herself, she cannot handle being stuck between her family’s war without it causing immense confusion with herself.  

that’s the most condensed summary i can offer because other wise you would be getting a 100k word response from me lmao. but thank you for asking!!!!!!!!! i adore luna and i can only appreciate mk12 because of her

[brsb4hls]

Ok, ok, ok, Loki: moral of the story.

I slept, I rewatched, I'm trying to be coherent.

So Sylvie. I know people love to hate her, but she's obviously integral to the plot, or they would have kept her at McD's in the second ep. Now what does she do?

She challenges Loki's viewpoint. There's a constant push and pull about what's right and wrong between them. And in 2x5 we've established that Loki simply just does not want to be alone.

But what about people's choices?

The only constant about the tva the narrative has established is pruning=bad.

Everyone was on branched time lines in 2x5, so when the tva took them before the branch could develop, everything around them would be reset.

So what about Mobius' kids? The show really invested some time in that. Mobius is trying, but struggling. He is in constant sale mode, desperate (even trying to sell to B15 later on). So he's short on cash.

And his kids need guidance. They call him at work and left to their own devices, they set shit on fire.

Mobius looks exhausted (the stubble etc). He's very sceptical and even afraid, when Loki shows up and finally agrees to come with him, because Loki says his boys are in danger.

If that Mobius stays at the tva, what about his boys? Why create such a huge emotional scene for nothing?

Also, if the time line hadn't branched (original version, where Mobius got taken at the nexus event), his boys would be erased.

Now from a Rick Sanchez pov that shit doesn't matter, but narrativly, there has to be something to it.

Sylvie challenges Loki by pointing out the branched timelines are what should have happened in the first place hadn't the tva not interfered.

They go back and forth about choices.

Point is, the choices were already made and lead to nexus events and branches and then the tva took those choices away. So Loki dragging everyone back cannot be good, right?

Sylvie wont interfere, even if she gets Loki on an emotional level, because it's not her place.

And Loki realizes that when he says everyone should go home after Sylvie didn't come with him.

Sylvie does interfere, when the branches are threatened, they dissolve, so she helps. She is very much about free will, but she is not careless. She always helped when needed.

BUT SHE DOES NOT WANT TO CONTROL.

Loki does!

So where will that lead? Loki will have to jump back and stabelize all the branches.

Victor probs wont succeed and Loki will do it himself.

But what then?

The morally correct thing would be to let all branches exist with the variants on them. (Especially if we take the soundbits into account when Loki is deliberatly slipping, B15 saying she was happy where she was, Mobius wanting to get back to his boys...)

If Loki gets powerful enough to safe and control time lines (the green lines in the trailer) he doesn't need the tva. He can keep an eye on Kang himself.

But he wants to keep his friends for selfish reasons.

So what will it be?

Also the end will be exactly what HWR predicted. Plus the tva has a fail safe (shown on the screen before spaghettification).

So does the tva have to keep existing? If so, to what extend?

Narrativly Loki would have to put everyone on their respective lines and sit his arse down at the citadel, making sure shit doesn't go sideways. Powerwise that would be cool, he would also be a true hero, but isolated again, after he just acknowledged he needs connections.

Side note: notice how Sylvie makes those connections? Everyone knows her by name. She's a regular at the bar and the record shop. She built herself a life, wrote her own story and encourages Loki to do the same.

So the 'happy ending' would be him saving everyone, and then building himself a life outside of tve tva (since that's an artificial place and his 'friends' there aren't themselves).

But that still leaves the treat of Kangs.

So how do we solve that moral dilemma?

To say it with Buffy:

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

[pampamtiger]

things that i think of while i was watching the 13th episode of lovely runner (contains spoiler)

there are three ways that i think the story could venture into (based on the ending of the 13th ep):

- sunjae died momentarily but went back in time soon after (sol's doing). in this option, he must've not retained his memory from his present (now became one of his probable future), hence when sol avoided him during the giving of package scene, it then led both to a new future, in which sunjae did not fall in love with sol. this would lead to the preview scene.

*before i went to the other two probable endings, i would just like to point out a loop hole that i found from the scene wherein sunjae would first meet sol. see, we all know that sol didn't have any chance to go back to the past anymore as she already spent her last chance when she went back to the period in which sunjae would die thru stabbing and drowning. so no more chance to change the past, right? now, let's go back to the time in which sunjae was transported (aka sunjae's first time travel): the yellow umbrella with the package delivery scene. the question is: how come sol already knew sunjae? she tried to avoid sunjae because of this. it means she knew what would happen. if sunjae was the only one who traveled back in time because he was the person who was wearing the bewitched watch, it would not make sense if sol had an idea about their future. BUUUUT, here's what i think. if we'd want that scene to be valid, then we should think that sol time traveled with sunjae when she pushed the watch's button. that would make it sensible. BUUUT THEN AGAIN, if this is the case, we'll never know whether they arrive on the same timeline so i'll leave it at that.

now let me go back to the other two options (sorry i'm not coherent when i try to explain stuff lololol)

- sunjae went back in time but with retained memories from the present this time. he just pretended that he didn't know sol and waited for the year the incident had happened to pass before he approach sol (or not). depending on his choice, he would either reunite with sol at a later timeline or he would continue pretending that he didn't know sol to avoid the accident which can happen any time now (changing of the future was possible before his time-travel)

- last option: sunjae went back in time but it was not his first first time. (yes, i'm delusional lmao) given that he was the first owner of the watch that could time travel, it must've worked when he first possessed it. he must've went back in time to change sol's fate (because of his guilt) but he failed to do it even after the third try. since sol also got to time-travel but still couldn't avoid any harm, fate must've given them one last chance to reunite. (though this will now tie to my first conclusion)

anyway, thank you for reading my jumbled thoughts and presumptions about lovely runner's endings. keep in mind that all of these are just my wild guess.

let's enjoy the last three episodes together~^^

[something-pithy]

Heyo, glittercats and kittens! So chapters 6 and 7 of an echo, a stain are up! And starting this week, I'm going to start including story notes along with the link.

I'm a note writer lol. Part of how I even begin to keep track of all the wildness of writing something longer than a grocery list is to write about it before I start writing it, if that makes sense lol. Character sketches, ideas about why certain things are happening, backstory, setting details, etc.

I'm pretty verbal about my writing process because -- well,  I like writing about writing a lot, and also, I think it improves both the work and how I get there. Anything might end up here -- character sketches, ideas about why certain things are happening, backstory, setting details, etc. I don't really wanna be leaving like eighteen thousand words of notes on every chapter, so here we are!

Sometimes I think they might add some interesting context for readers, sometimes it's information that I think is important but it's too much for the notes section on the story itself, and sometimes it's just so I have a document of my progress for this story. So here are my notes for chapter 7! ---

Chapter 7's title is from "Come to Me" by Bjork, which is definitely one of my Astarion / Tav falling in love themes for when I'm up in these flashbacks, back before Astarion Ascended (and he still had a soul loool).

The notes from previous chapters had promised a Shadowheart & Tav conversation in this chapter. This is not the Shadowheart & Tav chapter I promised, but it is the one that continued to demand to be written until I capitulated. 

And also, honestly, the one that's going to benefit that other chapter that was supposed to be 7 and the story as a whole in the long run, so I hope you like it! 

I was getting really stuck with my original plan, and so I just started writing -- well, this. And the chapter after this. And possibly the one after that. Loooool there is a LOT going on at this point in these kids' lives.

The original plan is still 100% happening, but I think I needed to 

1. explore the foundations of who these people have become (by these people of course I mean Tav and Astarion, but also friendship is magic, so our beautiful OG friendgroup babies) 

2. what the relationships between them look like and 

3. some clues, at least, as to how they got there. 

(tl;dr we're purposefully time-jumping, and I'm having fun with it, so I hope you will, too!)

But never fear, Shadowheart and Tav will of course be chatting when we return to the story's present. And it won't be in just one chapter.

OR

hey y'all, we're gonna be doing some purposeful (and hopefully at least coherently executed) flashing back and jumping forward (or up! or laterally! OR WHATEVER) in/on/around this story's timeline!

Final note, but an important one, on Tav's identity: 

I tried to keep Tav ambiguous for the first few chapters because I know that sometimes a really detailed and specific-looking or backstoried Tav can make people disengage from the story because they don't relate to the identifying details provided. (also, it's me, I'm people, or at least one of the people lol)

But at the end of the day, as soon as I started even thinking about writing a BG3 fic, I started really digging into and developing this Tav, who does reflect the dialogue, action, and relationship choices I've made in my current playthrough of the game with her, yes. But in having spent / continuing to spend some time thinking and writing about who this Tav is.  I'm not going to lay them all out here, but I think when you want to play in a sandbox as fucking ginormous and intricately, infinitesimally detailed as Faerun / The Forgotten Realms / DnD,  a little story/character-relevant contextual frontloading can help readers have as much fun with it as the writer does. 

Also, and I'm just going to say it, Tav is a queer, first-generation Baldurian child of two immigrants. She's the Faerun / Baldur's Gate equivalent of a BIPOC, with parents who were born in places very different both from Baldur's Gate and each other's home cities / kingdoms. Also, she's mixed-heritage elf (sun, moon, sea -- yeah, I'm that guy, come at me bro loooool). All this context is key to who Tav is as a person, as a creator, as an adventurer, and just in general.

I want anyone to be able to read Tav and be able to understand who she is, if not be able to relate to some small part of her -- but in my mind, people like Tav are essential to the story of a place like Baldur's Gate, and I really enjoy exploring what that looks like.

I'm having fun with it, so I hope you will, too!

[moonlight-tmd]

got anymore blitzbee hc or aus?

Well, there is many thing i can incorporate BlitzBee into- and i do, it's my main ship and OTP.

Warframe!Bumblebee, Civil!Blitzwing and Cons Are Good AUs are the ones specifically for BlitzBee.

Part-Insecticon!Bee can also be BlitzBee. Crack AU also cna have osme romance going on. Cyberbeast AU is also a BlitzBee possibility.

I cna give you some stuff relating to either one of those of just plain on non-AU timeline i have.

Blitz loves to sculpt figurines of Bee, he especially enjoys carving out the little horns and eyes on the figurine and giving it that innocent yet divilish look. Of course, he always keeps that smirk on his faceplate when he's sculpting his aft or alt-mode's undercarriage.

Bee will never admit but he wants to be squished by Blitzwing. He's into it more than he likes but he just cannot deny the satisfacition and comfort and maybe pleasure of being pressed against his berth while Blitz lays on top of him full weight. This is the best type of cuddle they discovered so far.

In Part-Insecticon!Bee AU, Blitz helped Bee with therapy to regain control over his broken wings- he'd rub his back and massage some places if he was sore after therapy. Bee was ashamed of having his wings out like that, Blitzwing had very impressive and strong wings, he almost felt unworthy of showing what little he had to offer in return. He voiced it at some point when Blitz noticed he was sad and told him he'd love him no matter what and that wings or not don't matter. He didn't need them to make Blitz swoon for him and it won't change.

Warframe!Bee AU, Bee will defo sing viking-like songs be it from games or not. He likes to sing Skyrim's Dragonborn song when he's forging. Blitzwing will occasionally join him and they'll have fun, although Blitz can't sing for slag. He and Bee will also dance a lot- Be it slow dancing, normal boogie-woogie moving or a couple's dance. They love to dance to "For The Dancing And The Dreaming".

Whenever Optimus bakes something for the group. Bee makes sure he hides some of the treats to give to Blitzwing later. Blitz doesn't have access to any treats or fancy food except oil and some 'natural' rust sticks found in the scrap yard, so he loves when his hummel brings him something different to eat.

BlitzBee loves kisses, it's a human custom but a very enjoyable one. As one would assume they have their own version of french kiss, where Blitz would switch to his black face and shove his wormy glossa down Bee's intake. (Lucky Bee doesn't have a gag reflex cuz he ate whatever he found in trash as a Sparkling) Sometimes when Blitz is annoyed and rants about stuff Bee will leave a trail of kisses on his cheek before kissing him on the derma, which usually ends up in a make-out session and makes Blitz forget he was even upset.

Bee is very crafty, so if Blitzwing makes him figurines and sculptures of stuff ya know he's gonna return the favor. He takes broken glass, some scraps and wires and makes pretty little flowers out of them. He could even pull off stained glass picture if he really tried.

CUDDLES. Just that. They do it all the time. Literally the moment they see each other- instant hugs and cuddles. If Blitz is part of Autobot team, it's cuddles 24/7. He will not let go of Bee unless Bee really wants to. Blitz will hold Bee hostage in their berth when he wakes up at crack of dawn and make him wait for Blitz to wake up around 10. If he was repulsed to touch due to trauma before, now he can't let go.

Blitz will never tell his hummel he talks in his recharge. He'd be trying to fall into recharge himself when he hears murmurs coming from his beloved. It's so amusing, he will talk to him and actually get semi-coherent answers. He loves that if he hums, Bee will also start humming. It's like a midnight radio that he can interact with til he falls into recharge. It's also surprising cuz it apparently works to keep the nightmares away from Bee. If Bee starts to sound panicked Blitz would comfort him and he'll go back to resting peacefully.

Now that's about all i can come up with now. Thanks for the ask!